Project INVICTA

[balthazar]

Some brief history first:

My buddy & I used to cruise all over central NJ & eastern PA looking for vintage iron. We were both Pontiac men, but always had an eye for other American iron (Cadillac, Buick, MoPar, independants). When we rolled up on this '59 Buick in Doylestown PA...

...I remember saying 'If it's an Invicta, it's mine'...

Series 4600 Invictas used the smaller 123" wheelbase LeSabre chassis with the big car Electra engine; the 'Wildcat' 401 CI. This was the 'performance' series in Buick's catalog, preceded by the '54-58 Century and followed by the '62-70 Wildcats. Always into performance, the Invicta was the most exclusive B-59 and the perfect choice. I am not into convertibles, esp in this era; lopping that 'bubbletop' roof off, with those fantastic lines and all that stainless and replacing it with wrinkled canvas is borderline criminal, in my book... and 4-drs are for families.

I took it for a long test drive a week or so later, dust billowing off it's unregistered & uninsured curves (it had been sitting about a year at this point), and although it had what felt to me to be notable 'departures' from the Pontiacs I was used to (at this point, Pontiac really did do interiors noticably better), I was smitten.

She spent about a year in this picturesque barn down the road from my parent's house...

...then another 2 in my parent's driveway under a tarp, until I had my house & shop built. This is my shop; 24x48 :

She then slumbered another 3 years or so in Bay #1 before I tore into the project.

More to come...

Edited November 5, 2017 by balthazar

[balthazar]

(I apologize in advance if/when I ramble on overly long....)

THE CAR was basically presentable, tho there was contained, deteriorating rot repair in the lower front fenders, the lower rear quarters and some rot in the rockers. There were also 2 strange fist-sized holes in a vertical panel in the trunk... but overall, the floors and the rest of the car were very solid.

My invicta was built in June '59 in the Wilmington BOP plant, and sold thru Pollino Buick in Ambler PA (since merged/moved/renamed... and apparently closed now). Standard Invicta equipment included a cloth & vinyl combination upholstery, DeLuxe steering wheel, DeLuxe wheel covers, Foamtex seat cushions, electric clock, electric wipers, padded dash, dual horns, trip odometer and a glovebox light. As built, my Invicta also came with the follwing options: power steering, heater/defroster, SonoMatic AM radio, E-Z-Eye tinted windshield, Safety Group (Speed Safety Buzzer, back-up lamps, Glare-Proof inside rearview mirror, parking brake warning light, map light), dual exhaust & whitewall tires. Didn't scan too well, but here's 1 of the 2 hand-written build sheets found during the teardown...

'4637' is an Invicta hardtop coupe, 'CC' is Artic White body/roof, '601' is the green/black/white upholstery/interior color, rest is options:
D1 : Sonomatic AM radio / manual antenna
B1 : heater/defroster
C : power steering
F : Safety Group - BU lights, non-glare mirror, P-brake light, map light, Safety Buzzer speedometer
I7 : EZI tinted windshield
T1 : whitewall tires
These were added to the standard Invicta features of DeLuxe steering wheel, DeLuxe hubcaps, padded dash, dual exhaust & rear license plate frame.

In the time up until this point (6 years of ownership)- the B-59 did not rise in value according to the Old Cars Price Guide even tho relatively uncommon (11,451 built); an Invicta 2-dr hardtop was worth a year in-year out $7000 in #1 perfect shape. As she sat, she was technically a #4, or worth $1500 (I paid $500). Mileage was 103K when the odometer broke... I estimate it had 105-110K on it.

I looked into hopping up the factory powertrain, and although the Wildcat 401 V-8 (325 HP) was more than willing and parts are available, the rest of the powertrain (TwinTurbine DynaFlow, TorqueTube enclosed driveshaft, Buick 9.375" 3.23 open axle) were not. The TwinTurbine was not modifiable nor advantageous for performance, and the rear, being uniquely-designed to couple to the TorqueTube, had no aftermarket gears available.

Here is a B-59 chassis pic I cribbed off the 'net (NOT MINE) :

Note the rear suspension- the TorqueTube is red, and those angled red bars are the lower control arms. They're about 4' long and attach to the TorqueTube, so once again, change 1 thing here and you're changing it all. B-59s also utilize a factory Panhard bar to control side-to-side motion (no doubt a neccessity with those elongated control arms)- something that appeared much later on the GNX, BTW. Air-Poise rear air suspension was an infrequently-ordered option, mine doesn't have it.

So between a lust for performance and owning a collector-ignored example, I felt no guilt in 'resto-modding' the car. I stripped the B-59 apart over the next year or so, pulling the entire powertrain and selling it off (the 401 went into a FL '63 Riviera, and the axle & transmission are in NY State as cores for another B-59 damaged in a fire).

Edited November 4, 2017 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

This is going to be a very interesting section of the forum. Nice job, balthy. More, please!

[Camino LS6]

Killer intro Balthazar, keep it going!

Interesting exhaust routing shown on that chassis.

[balthazar]

Yea; that's the crazy, factory system: mufflers ahead of the axle (don't see 'em in that pic), resonators at the rear.

-- -- -- --

I am firmly of the school that believes a Buick should have a Buick engine, and with a ton of aftermarket support for the Buick 455 (would you believe multiple aftermarket blocks??), the choice was made. My engine came from a another Artic White Buick, a '72 Riviera Sport Coupe that had been whalloped in the rear, a standard 315 HP/450 TRQ (gross) 455 (that's 7.5 liters for you noobs).

At this point a number of other cars left my paddock to help fund this, including the rest of the Riv (thru the Riv Owners Assoc) :

1957 Ford F-250 Styleside :

1973 Dodge Charger Rallye 440 :

1965 Pontiac Catalina 2-sr sedan :

1965 Pontiac Bonneville 2-dr hardtop :

1965 Pontiac Bonneville 4-dr hardtop :

1964 Pontiac Catalina 4-dr sedan. This one below left in 2017, it's monies will also go into the Buick Fund :

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

You sent some interesting stuff down the road to do your 59.

[Intrepidation]

Keep the info coming balthazar, it's fascinating (as is your collection of cars).

Edited April 6, 2008 by Dodgefan

[XP715]

An excellent beginning to an excellent story of a most excellent project; looking forward to many updates!

Balt: if you EVER need to rid yourself of another '65 Bonneville four door hardtop in order to come up with some more project dough, please please PLEASE let me know! My father would about die if one ever showed up in front of the house to get restored; he's a big time Pontiac man too!

[balthazar]

I do have a '65 Bonneville 2-dr hardtop, but yer dad doesn't want what's left of it. I don't think the scrap guy even would.

-- -- -- -- --

I had a friend who worked for a Pontiac/Olds engine builder do some work on it next. I did not trust my (lack of) bodywork experience at this point to experiment on my baby.

I bought what may have been the last NORS B-59 quarter patch panels available; the lower half in 2 panels that split over each rear wheel. Aftermarket rockers are still readily available, tho in the repair, my buddy Joe put 2x3" steel tubing inside the rockers from cowl to rear wheelwell to help support them, making a secondary double frame rail. The body is incredibly stiff (even without a B-Pillar ). Here's a sectional view of the rocker/frame area- the green areas are what was added/replaced.

Here's some cruddy surgery pics snipped from video:

A local engine/chassis builder modified the rear of the frame to fit an axle & suspension befitting it's intended future use. B-59s use a unique 'K' frame, and the builder said he'd never worked on a car with such a beefy frame. So he cut the 'K' member out.

The floor bracing noted above is C-channel welded to the body shell (like a unibody 'frame' so to speak). Standard practice.

My buddy also built the rear for the car, using a truck Dana 60 with a 4-pinion posi, 31-spline Moser halfshafts & 3.73 Richmond gears. He built 36" fully-adjustable ladder bars and a new Panhard bar. The factory Buick wheelwells are very large, but the framerails protruded into the well, so in order to put a larger tire on, he ended up back-halving the car- everything from about 1.5' in front of the rear on back is all new... but was made to accomodate everything factory that was staying: gas tank, fuel filler & all body mount points (B-59s utilize 22 body mounts). Rear tires are 315/60-15 BFG Drag Radials on 10" rims. Car here looks like it's riding high because of the lighting & angle; but from the curb the car sits quite low:

Suspension is adjustable at both the front of the ladder bars, & the axle, so once all the weight is on, it can be fine-tuned as needed. Solid motor mounts & a custom trans crossmember was also fabb'd. I forgot to mention I had the body media-blasted, too. After getting the car back from Joe, she looked like so :

Edited November 4, 2017 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

And you called my project detailed?

This will be one serious machine!

[vonVeezelsnider]

Just a question- why the Drag Tires? Looks a little odd I guess.

[balthazar]

Veezel- the tires are a neccessity for traction--> car is going to have a lot of power. Pic doesn't show it well, but they are treaded tires, not slicks (tho I have a pair of 29.5" M&Hs, too).

-- -- -- -- --

'72 Buick 455 block has been boiled & completely deburred. Here it sits mocked-up with T/A Performance Stage II aluminum heads & single plane intake just sitting there.

Heads flow 300+ cfm out of the box. Crank has also been deburred. Peeking out the front of the oil pan is the T/A block girdle, a heavy cast brace to keep the bottom end of the motor from doing the hoochiecoochie under WOT. I also have a new front timing cover, 1.65 shaft rockers, valve covers & oil pump, and I need to order the 3" primary headers soon, because that steering box (rebuilt with a faster ratio: 3.3 turns l-t-l) is jutting into the header's turf and I think I am going to have to fab at least 2 tubes on that side. Carb, pistons, rods, valves, springs, dist..... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ still to come. And machine work. I don't like to think about the bill here.

But on the happy side, in order to be able to turn right around 11.0s in the quarter, the car need to put out about 575 HP. Hence the tires. Girdle is prolly overkill for a car under 600 HP, but what the hell- I value over-engineering things.

Trans is going to be a '70 code BC Buick THM400 (ONOZ! OMG!! Slushtboxzez suxzorz!!). Mid '69 and later units have 'case saver rings', an internal cast reinforcement. And in another example of me going overboard, I recently cut the factory bellhousing off to replace it with this, an SFI-approved UltraBell:

More recently I have been pondering an auto OD unit.
Gear Vendors has a 'splitter' OD unit that bolts on the back of the TH400... and although it's rated for like 1200 HP, it's also about $2K new. Instead I'm strongly considering a 4L80E, the 'overdrive Turbo 400'. These need some other bits to make it work (a 'brain box' and an analog speedometer drive thingie), but they are more like $3500. Then again- I'd still have to get the TH400 built. Mulling all this over, need to do a spreadsheet. 4L80E rear mount is 2.5-in farther rearward than the TH400, should be no big deal to fabricate a modified trans mount & keep the crossmember where it is.

With the tires planned and 3.73 gears, the car would be turning about 2520 RPM @ 60 MPH. Frankly, after driving ODs for 20 years, when I shift out of OD in my 3.73 Silverado, I turn about the same RPM and it just feels & sounds... wrong. Still pondering cost vs. expected frequency of use...

Edited May 6, 2018 by balthazar

[Intrepidation]

Can't wait to see this thing finished, keep the story coming!

[XP715]

Can't wait to see this thing finished

For real. When I die I'll be able to say I've seen an ALL STEEL 1959 Buick Invicta do f@#king WHEELIES!

[Sixty8panther]

Even more impressive than this super blow-by-blow narrated photo montage

was my visit to Balthazar's house in the fall of 2005. His garage was full of

many amazing wonders. Pontiac 8-lug drums just sitting in a box, B-59 parts

on shelves, Buick & Pontiac memorabilia hanging up on walls & dozens upon

dozens of "what the heck is THAT?" items.

I managed to talk Balth into letting me lighten his Automotive packrat burden

by donating an antique pre-war car jack... (my Automotive packratness has

reached epic levels) and I took a few photos of the B-59 which was laid out

like a life sized version of a half-finished AMT 1:25th scale model.

Also in the garage was a menacing & fascinatingly awesome 1940 Ford truck,

but not some run-of-the-mill pickup like every farmer was driving in the

1940s... this is a COE and Balth has some very cool plans for it as a rat-rod.

The 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix (black hardtop, 8-lugs) I forget weather it's got

the 389 or the 421 but in any case it's just chillin' under a tarp, inside its

gorgeous interior time stands still... the garage keeps the cancerous rust at

bay and I'm confident someday the car will get the attention and care it

deserves. Then there's the 4-dr post Catalina sitting in the weeds, a victim

of a dumb deer... I'm sure Balth can tell some of those stories when the

sage of the B-59 is updated.

[balthazar]

Front suspension is all rebuilt stock: SLA (lowers forged), screw-in bearings, coil-over shocks w/ new 1" shorter HD springs. The 'Al-Fin' 12" aluminum drums do not fade and will get Kevlar-impregnated shoes. Pop Mech tested a '60 Invicta when new and got it to average 138' in 60-0 braking. That's modern family sedan territory. Add in wide radials, better shoes and lighter weight, and I expect to knock an easy car-length off that (circa 120')- that's only 9 feet more than a Lambo Gallardo.

Here's a shot of the above-mentioned rear suspension. Note that the factory fenderwell is still intact- it remains underneath somewhat like a motorcycle fender to keep the tire from tossing too much stuff around.



Weight is... not inconsiderable. Shipping weight (no options, gas or water) for the Invicta coupe was 4274. Curb weight (full tank fuel, all fluids, all standard equipment) is officially 4394. My car with it's scant options (AM Radio, heater/defroster, power steering, dual exhaust) calculates out at at 4481 lbs.

But it pays to do your research: the factory 455 alternator bracket (also mounts A/C compressor) was a heavy steel unit weighing 4 lbs by itself. I grabbed an interchangable non-A/C bracket from a junkyard '67 LeSabre 340 car; made of cast aluminum, it literally weighs nothing. Happily, every component swapped in has weighed less than the original; so far I'm down 374 lbs to 4102, with the weight differences in the rims and exhaust currently unknown. I would love to get to an even 4000 but don't know if it's in there, and I'm also going to have to add some weigh via various components. I tried adding something to make the car lighter -holes- but the practice is overrated; you can drill for a few hours and only lose a pound. If I can get the car down to 4000 lbs, divided by 575 HP equals 7.0 lbs/hp. As a reference, that's Shelby Cobra 427 territory.

A car this angry should move like atomic hellfire.


 

Edited May 6, 2018 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

What is the plan for finishing the trunk?

[SuperSport623]

7 LBs/ HP? SWEET! i love seeing big boats with tons of power..... keep these posts coming!

[balthazar]

Trunk is finished, metal-wise... tho the pan is square-edged, making laying a mat in there over the contours a bit difficult. I was thinking of spatter-painting it, but that's later, year-wise (for Buick at least). Factory had lots of 'beauty panels' to the sides & back that hid everything but the wheelwells, and my originals are toast and no one makes repros. Don't think they'd fit the new contours, anyway. Still contemplating the trunk cosmetics.

[Camino LS6]

Trunk is finished, metal-wise... tho the pan is square-edged, making laying a mat in there over the contours a bit difficult. I was thinking of spatter-painting it, but that's later, year-wise (for Buick at least). Factory had lots of 'beauty panels' to the sides & back that hid everything but the wheelwells, and my originals are toast and no one makes repros. Don't think they'd fit the new contours, anyway. Still contemplating the trunk cosmetics.

Custom "beauty panels" could be the answer.

[XP715]

Don't stop now; it was just getting good!

[balthazar]

Now I was at the restoration zenith of the process: to pull the body or not. Well, you can't paint the top of the frame with the body there (nor that portion of the floorpan), so off it came. After unbolting everything, I used 3 guys to lift the front of the shell and my engine hoist to lift the back, setting the shell on two 4x4s on top of 35-gallon steel drums, which allowed me to roll the chassis out from underneath it. I left the doors on & latched, but with the extra rails inside the rockers, the shell didn't flex at all (the general consensus is you should weld angle-iron in an 'X' in the door openings when lifting it off the frame, especially on a hardtop).

I sandblasted the frame all over (fully boxed from the engine crossmember to the rear bumper). I used a drop-in syphon blaster, worked very well, but my frame was naturally nothing like a new toyota frame even tho it's nearly 50 years old & lived it's life in PA (DIG!!), and there was almost no heavy scale and zero rot. Then I painted it with POR-15. Here it is (upsidedown) prior to painting, and after rewelding a few factory seams, and modifying a few items (there were no provisions left underneath for exhaust (car is going to have 3" duals), so I added in the 2 quarter-round notches in the middle area, using steel tubing from a big dump truck hydraulic lift cylinder.

I built a body dolly out of 2x3" steel tubing, with 4 large pneumatic swivel tires. Now I could roll underneath and scrape & wirewheel the underside, seam-seal all the cracks, then brush-paint it in 2 coats of POR-15. One night I fell asleep for a while under the car at about 1AM- my creeper must be more comfortable than I thought. I breathed vast quanities of rust dust under there, but the body is a vault now.

My buddy Joe is a great welder, but he was not a bodyman at that point (he since has done numerous cars for others & is pretty good). I discovered while longboarding that the fiberglas filler he put over the quarters was on smooth sheetmetal, a no-no for adhesion. It all had to come off.

After digging around, I met up with a guy who did painting for a living in a body shop, and also did custom paintwork for cars in his own home down-draft paint booth. The cars I saw he did that looked brand new were 8 and 10-yr old jobs, and a number had been in magazines. I like what I saw, so I trucked the shell (plus fenders, doors & hood) to his house, where he & his father swore they'd never do such a large car again. They stripped all the fiberglas out, redid everything, sanded & sanded & sanded, then shot the car with epoxy-primer/sealer. It's in this stage now, all ready for paint. Here it is in the booth, still on it's dolly, ready for her first shot of primer. Look at the width of that firewall! :

Edited November 4, 2017 by balthazar

[XP715]

VERY cool. It's amazing to see the improvised frame from the mid-section back; what happened to the rest of it?

[balthazar]

Original rails were tossed. I still have the 'K' section that was also cut out; it's leaning against a tree next to my shop :

My brother just took the body off the frame on his '71 GTO- the differences in the puny '71 C-channel frame, and the truck-sized B-59 frame is amazing, esp considering the cars are within 350 lbs of each other.

Edited November 4, 2017 by balthazar

[XP715]

My brother just took the body off the frame on his '71 GTO- the differences in the puny '71 C-channel frame, and the truck-sized B-59 frame is amazing, esp considering the cars are within 350 lbs of each other.

Everything really was way overbuilt back then. I need to post a photo of the frame of my father's '37 Packard when the body was off; talk about a truck frame! And the frame from the '40 ambulance is even beefier.

[CMG]

Cool stuff balthazar!

[Sixty8panther]

Now I could roll underneath and scrape & wirewheel the underside, seam-seal all the cracks, then brush-paint it in 2 coats of POR-15. One night I fell asleep for a while under the car at about 1AM- my creeper must be more comfortable than I thought.

I don't evne own a creeper yet... nor a garage but I've

def. fallen asleep inside/under a partially dissasembled

car before at an ungodly hour of the night.

Working on cars is the coolest. It's one of those things

like sex, even when it sucks it's still pretty damn good

compared to the rest of the day.

----

BTW: I nominate this the coolest thread of 2008.

[balthazar]

I have been working 6 days a week and haven't been on the B-59 in a good 3 weeks. Damnit. I have a new centerlink (my 3rd), in the hopes I can rebuild mine- which is at a standstill. I have to get back to this car, a factory 2-tone Invicta :

I've taken about the last few parts left; need to go back & get the spindles & forged wishbone A-arms- it's got a date with the crusher in June. Hmm, I should also take all the stainless- they're not making that anymore.

Edited November 3, 2017 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

I know the feeling.

I'm hoping for some barn time this weekend.

[Camino LS6]

Aren't we due for an update on this?

:AH-HA_wink:

[balthazar]

Yes, F'ing overdue. Haven't had the time. Working tomm & Sunday. Still waiting on the centerlink parts so I can get that exploded assembly off my workbench. Money is depressing me. The few things I've tossed up for sale recently are no-go's, nothing long-term lined up at the moment work-wise; just small stuff, wife works for one of the financials so we're awaiting the guilotine there.........

I should really finish the '40 first, since it's much much closer to being done.

BTW- the B-59 corpse shown above, along with about 140 of it's mates, did indeed perish in late June. I did not get back in time to save the A-Arms, either, and when I bought 1 about 8 years ago, it ran me $125.

Edited November 8, 2008 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

I can sympathize.

[CMG]

I'm following this thread to, AWESOME car.

[Sixty8panther]

BTW- the B-59 corpse shown above, along with about 140 of it's mates, did indeed perish in late June. I did not get back in time to save the A-Arms, either, and when I bought 1 about 8 years ago, it ran me $125.

HUH!>?!?

Why? Dear Lord who the F%.... it's 2008 for chrissake,

the car is (was) half century old. Man that pisses me off

that before it finished donating the rest of its organs it w

was crushed &melted just to make another '10 Toyopet.

A moment of silence please...

[balthazar]

I'm with you there, 68, but note that the only pieces left were the front A-Arms; the rest of the car was irreversibly rotted. I couldn't 'pull the lever' on it, but it did surrender a double armload of parts to me prior.

The guy who's yard it is is about 75, and altho he's there 5 days a week still, he took advantage of high scrap prices and got rid of about 93% of his yard. Many cars were far worse shape than the above B-59.

- - - - -
My friend who started the auto body shop in the above pic and owned the small junkyard out back, passed away 11.18.2009 at age 76. I first met him around 1990- my friend's father took me over there because I had just gotten my '59 and he knew this guy was working on one in the shop. That one visit stuck in my mind, and it wasn't until sometime around 2004 that I stopped back in, re-introduced myself, and struck up a chatting acquaintance. He was retired by that time, but hung out in the back 5-6 days a week, putzing with his own cars and periodically building customs. He had a fascinating collection of stuff, was heavily into Lincolns. I know he had a gorgeous '33 aluminum-bodied Lincoln V-12, I think it 1 of like a dozen cars. Also had a DeSoto Airflow... I want to say it was a coupe, which is quite rare.

He also had this car, he said only 3 were built and his was the only one left. I toyed with buying it but passed on the $14K asking price :

Edited November 3, 2017 by balthazar

[CMG]

What's the intended driveline going to be?

[balthazar]

Buick 455, aluminum Stage II heads, Holley 1000 cfm carb, 2" headers, THM400 or 4L80E, Dana 60 w/ 3.73. Car is already set up for the engine/trans, cores for both those are already obtained, plus many of the major engine parts such as the heads (see mock-up pic on page 1). Axle is all in & ready to go.

Edited November 3, 2017 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Here's one of the very few 'right time; right place' stories RE this project : A guy on the B-59 board (yes; there's one of those) was looking for a good radiator for his car. He's in Moscow. I stepped right up with this offer- I'll get mine re-cored for you, you pay for the recore, the shipping to Russia, and half of the cost of my replacement custom aluminum radiator. He agreed- I had the orig recored, made a detailed drawing and had a one-off custom one built. $600 unit only cost me $300 for a 2- (1") tube aluminum rad. This sort of thing just does not happen often enough.

- - - - -
Had a problem earlier- when mocking up the motor- the guy who set that up for me placed the engine block sans heads. When I went to put the pass-side head on- it hit the firewall, missing it's dowel pins by about a half inch. Suck City. Moving the engine mounts & the trans crossmember mounts seemed like the long way around, so I decided to notch the firewall. Clearance here is tight- I'm keeping the factory under-dash heater box. So I traced the contour of the head & valve cover, added a little margin, and cut into it:

Traced the hole on stiff paper, added an inch or so along one side, transfered it to steel, cut it, sliced it, contoured it, & welded it in. Heater box still fits inside, happily :

In other news- I have been working in the basement- setting up a clean, semi-pleasant 'workshop' in order to get anything accomplished in steady below freezing temps as this winter has been dealing this area. I wanted to get the centerlink assembly down there and get my replacement pieces I waited the better part of a year on, going before the end of Jan. That should become a reality tomm, Jan 31st. Will have some pics of the quizzically-complex assembly soon. BTW- the factory shop manual drawing for this is incorrect, plus manual- & power-steering cars have different pieces involved. Fun.

Edited November 4, 2017 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

Glad to see updates on this!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Someday...

I will have the money to build a car like this!

[balthazar]

• Spent some time talking with my buddy tonight about this project.

The plan is, once the '40 is up & running, we will turn to the B-59, clear the junk from on & around it, and start evaluating the Order of Business. I believe there's mostly labor to come next, as opposed to spending money. As the '40 should be running soon, this plan is imminent. This is no way to treat a project car ::

• I really need to Clean House in my shop; I've accumulated a bunch of useless junk over the years, and nothing makes working on a vehicle more inviting than a clear, neat work space. And good lighting.

• More time still was spent talking over the 3rd car in my shop, which was the first car I ever bought : '64 Pontiac Grand Prix. That car is complete but has been parked for a lo-ooing time (inside tho). He made reasonable points about working on 2 cars at once (the '59 and '64), something I never considered in the years I worked alone on my cars. I have at least 5 recent, standing requests to buy this car, and I have talked about selling it in the past few years, but perhaps that's not the best choice after all. 

It's supposedly a 'brass hat' executive-ordered car, came thru a Chicago dealer. Built in the home plant in Pontiac MI, it's a very well optioned car with 56K original miles. This car I would redo factory original (tho I might add a few factory options, such as Tri-P, which I have a correct unit).

- - - - - 

June 12 :: Have spent 2 sessions clearing, purging, organizing all the … STUFF, made progress (that's my '40 bunking to the left) :

Edited November 3, 2017 by balthazar

[A Horse With No Name]

On 5/5/2016 at 11:14 PM, balthazar said:

• Spent some time talking with my buddy tonight about this project.

The plan is, once the '40 is up & running, we will turn to the B-59, clear the junk from on & around it, and start evaluating the Order of Business. I believe there's mostly labor to come next, as opposed to spending money. As the '40 should be running within a month, this plan is imminent.

 

This is no way to treat a project car ::

 

• I really need to Clean House in my shop; I've accumulated a bunch of useless junk over the years, and nothing makes working on a vehicle more inviting than a clear, neat work space. And good lighting.

 

• More time still was spent talking over the 3rd car in my shop, which was the first car I ever bought : '64 Pontiac Grand Prix. That car is complete but has been parked for a lo-ooing time (inside tho). He made reasonable points about working on 2 cars at once (the '59 and '64), something I never considered in the years I worked alone on my cars. I have at least 5 recent, standing requests to buy this car, and I have talked about selling it in the past few years, but perhaps that's not the best choice after all. 

 

 

- - - - - 

June 12 :: Have spent 2 sessions clearing, purging, organizing all the … STUFF, made progress :

Looking good, be glad to see this finally get some love....

[balthazar]

On January 31, 2009 at 1:38 AM, balthazar said:

I wanted to get the centerlink assembly down there [basement work area] and get my replacement pieces I waited the better part of a year on, going before the end of Jan. That should become a reality tomm, Jan 31st. Will have some pics of the quizzically-complex assembly soon. BTW- the factory shop manual drawing for this is incorrect, plus manual- & power-steering cars have different pieces involved. Fun.

OK. Here we are, EIGHT YEARS LATER, but, never mind that; gotta keep it positive, right??

Work has started again on the B-59, I think. Put the center link together this afternoon, so it's finally done. Note the date on the above quote.

This way, after installation, I can roll the car outside & at least the front wheels will talk to each other. Want to spatter paint the trunk, have a bit of wire wheeling to do back there first. Anyone out there who's tried moving a dead car with no steering linkage knows the fun.

Stay tuned...

Edited March 6, 2017 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

Oh, I didn't know you have a '59 Buick. 

[balthazar]

If I paint it Deere Green, will you come help work on it? You can pretend its a tractor.

[ocnblu]

I triple dog dare you!

[balthazar]

OK, bitches.
This is the official calendar mark - work on the B-59 resumed today, 02-24-18. Handed off the front Al-Fin drums to my buddy to clean up. They were turned years ago, he's going to tend to some brake surface cleanup, paint the hubs, do a tiny bit of modification to allow for aftermarket rims, and clean out the bearing areas.

Spring is around the corner, and it's time to get this road whale (on it's way to) motorvating.

- - - - -
EDIT : 24 hr turnaround, nicely cleaned up. Will clear coat when the weather is warmer.
12" Al-fin (finned aluminum) with iron liners, getting Kevlar shoes when installed.

Edited February 26, 2018 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Have about 85% of the floor inside covered with sound deadening material- a roofing product called Peel & Seal. 6" wide x 25-ft, you cut it to the desired shape, heat it up with a heat gun, peel the paper backing & roll it down. It's some sort of butyl rubber / asphalt with a heavy foil on the upper side. Then all the seams were gone over with aluminum tape. This makes the car both quieter and cooler inside. Power level/ air volume is likely going to be making some heat under the floor, and I'm already a bit worried that any decent performance mufflers are just going to be too loud IMO.

Need to SOMEHOW come to a decision on rear speakers, since there are NO cutouts in the rear window area for any and it's time to cut them. However, I really have never paid any attention to car sound systems; I'm clueless here. I do have a friend who used to compete in sound competitions, I think he was once clocked at something like 143 db. Hopefully he can 'dumb down' a recommendation for those who don't care to bleed from the ears when they listen to music.

[G. David Felt]

Love the update, Any Pictures @balthazar that you took recently?

[balthazar]